


i walk the edge and fall but every time you catch me

by Spoofymcgee



Series: sunrise, sunset [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Brothers, Family Dynamics, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Morning Cuddles, Nightmares, Pancakes, Star - Freeform, Temporary Character Death, The Author Regrets Everything, all of rex's troopers kArKiNg care for him, and yes that is a fact thank you for asking, anyway, but you probably guessed that, i have no idea how to tag angst, like death angst, no, pretty heavy angst, snuggles, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoofymcgee/pseuds/Spoofymcgee
Summary: If the foundation is gone, why doesn’t the building fall?Cody has been there since Rex can remember.He’d been a tiny little cadet, forty pounds soaking wet, angry and dripping all over the tiny closet’s floor. He’d clutched the dull vibroblade so tightly his knuckles had gone white, stared up at the dark silhouette, light blazing around the edges.Cody had pulled him close, carried him to the tiny little bunk room where they’d stared, all four, as he’d gently cleaned the bloody gash, pulled the broken weapon from his hand, wrapped him up in a thin coverlet and a hug until he’d stopped shaking enough to stutter out an answer when Cody had asked him ‘Why?’
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-6116 | Kix & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: sunrise, sunset [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927888
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88





	i walk the edge and fall but every time you catch me

**Author's Note:**

> heh. heh. heh.
> 
> i'm very sorry.

It’s cold.   
Maybe it always has been. Rex doesn’t know any more. He doesn’t know anything. He could do something about it; put on his upper blacks, wrap himself in the thin cover pushed haphazardly to the end of the cot.   
He doesn’t. Cody would tell him to. Cody would want him to get up, clean his shell, eat something, get some sleep, be there for his men.    
But that’s just it, isn’t it? Cody isn’t here to do that.   
  
_ “Sir?”  _ _  
_ _ Big eyes, Rex had thought the first time he’d seen the trooper. They’d been full of sparkling mischief, innocent. Not anymore. Now they hold an impossible grief, a crushing, desperate sadness. _ _  
_ _ He drops to the ground, folds himself up. It’s silent for a few moments. _ _  
_ _ “How?” the kid finally asks, drawing his knees up to his chest. “How do I keep going?” _ _  
_ _ Rex’s chin drops, rests on the edge of his collarbone.  _ _  
_ _ “Because they can’t,” he answers. “And we owe it to them.”  _ _  
_ _ The last little bit of hope in the trooper’s eyes sputters like a candle in a tornado, and goes out. _ _  
  
_

He can’t let go of it.    
It’s broken. Split nearly down the middle. His head had hit a rock when he’d fallen, no one there to catch him.   
Thin cracks snake out from the side, speared with tiny pebbles, grains of sand carried in from the battlefield.    
A shot to the back, one hostage with a blaster.    
Not how Cody had wanted to go. How he’d deserved to go, one of them had said, and Rex has never had to put more effort into stopping himself from hitting someone.   
He doesn’t understand. The stars spin, the suns blaze weakly, the snow falls. And Cody is gone. 

If the foundation is gone, why doesn’t the building fall?   
Cody has been there since Rex can remember.    
He’d been a tiny little cadet, forty pounds soaking wet, angry and dripping all over the tiny closet’s floor. He’d clutched the dull vibroblade so tightly his knuckles had gone white, stared up at the dark silhouette, light blazing around the edges.    
Cody had pulled him close, carried him to the tiny little bunk room where they’d stared, all four, as he’d gently cleaned the bloody gash, pulled the broken weapon from his hand, wrapped him up in a thin coverlet and a hug until he’d stopped shaking enough to stutter out an answer when Cody had asked him  _ ‘Why?’ _ _  
_ Three dark faces, so much like his own, blurred with memory. Gone, between one hour and the next. Not quietly; Rex had sworn up and down to himself that he’d never forget Seventy-Two’s screams.    
_ ‘I don’t want to be next.’  _ he’d answered.  _ ‘We all promised; whatever happens, one of us would make it, would remember.’ _ _  
_ Bacta is very good for healing, however contraband it may be. Rex had marched off to training the next day, blond fuzz barely discernible against his dark scalp. It was cold, and he would keep his promise. Cody would help him.   
And now Cody was gone.    
Another tear slips out the edge of his eye, slides down his cheek.   
Cody’s  _ gone.  _ Cody’s  _ dead,  _ and  _ he’s not coming back. _ _  
_ _  
_ Rex bolts upright, wrestles an arm out of the tangled covers. Frantically grabs for the comm he’s left on his bedside table.   
“It’s okay,” someone answers from the darkness. “I’ve got it.”    
“ _ Cody, _ ” he rasps, reaching for it.    
“Here,” the person murmurs, and cold steel presses against his outstretched palm. The blue flickers.   
“Mhn?” he asks, rubbing sleep from his eyes.   
“ _ Cody, _ ” Rex says again. His voice breaks on the last letter, and the thing choking his heart eases.   
“Rex?” he asks, snapping his head up. “I’ll be there in two minutes.”   
  
The door slams open and Cody skids into the room, breathing hard.  _ Breathing.  _ **_Alive._ **   
The comm falls from his grip, clatters to the floor.    
Kix slips out quietly, leaving the door just slightly ajar, a single strip of light stretching across the room to grab Rex’s hand.    
“C’mere,” Cody says, pulls him close. Holds him tight, as tight as he can.    
“You-and-there was-” he mutters, hanging on like his life depends on it.    
“Shh,” Cody whispers, and so he listens.    
  
It’s warm.    
It won’t always be, but that’s okay. Early morning sunlight filters down through the Coruscant traffic, a dull roar echoing through the walls.   
Later today he’ll go over to Anakin’s apartment, help put the twins down for to sleep and watch a movie while they sleep, crushed between Padme and Anakin. Maybe they’ll talk; more likely they won’t. That’s alright too. He presses his forehead to Cody’s, pulls the blanket up a little, and falls back asleep.   
  
“Commander?” someone asks from the door.    
“No,” Cody grumbles, shifting so he can turn his head and glare at the trooper.    
“Sir, it’s eleven and Hevy made hotcakes for breakfast,” Hardcase says.   
He considers this for a moment, then shakes his head.   
“I’ll say it again;  _ no, _ ”    
“There’s fresh meliroons and carbosyrup,” Hardcase entices.   
Cody looks down. Rex blinks up at him, eyes just the edge of pleading. He tilts his head just the tiniest bit, and Cody sighs.    
“Fine,” he groans. “But you’re going to take a  _ karking nap  _ this afternoon, you hear me Rex?”   
“Nope, sorry,” his little brother grins, scrambling over him and out the door.    
“Oh, you little-” Cody gives chase.   
It’ll be good for Torrent to see their Captain laugh. And Cody’s responsible for them too, isn’t he? Ah, well. Anything in the name of duty, even if that means pinning Rex down and tickling him until he does.

**Author's Note:**

> so, um, my hand slipped.
> 
> you can kill me if you want to.
> 
> [ some fluff to make up for it.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107428%7Csome)


End file.
